Thankful Thursday

November is upon us and Thanksgiving is approaching. While I am very thankful for the typical things on a thanksgiving list like my family, my faith, shelter, so on and so forth... I want to use the Thursdays this month to share some things that I am thankful for that go beyond that list!

Today, I am thankful for our community! We live in one of the smaller suburbs in South Kansas City and we have so many wonderful resources that make living here perfect for our family.

For starters, I love the playground, water park, and walking trail that are literally just across the street. I'm so thankful that we're just a short walk away from all of that fun! 

The libraries, oh the libraries-- we love them, all of them! We utilize three different library systems, all that have multiple locations. The librarians are fantastic and the storytimes are so much fun. We regularly go to two each week! From playing fun instruments to playing with the parachute, my kids love it. And so do I!

Ms Kelly is the best! She always wears her Minion shirt so Belle appropriately refers to the entire library as the "minion library"!

Oh, and I'm thankful for craft time at both libraries each week because I am terrible about doing crafty things with my kids at home! 

• Our district has a wonderful Parents as Teachers program. Once a month, Ms. Marilyn comes to visit and my kids get so excited. She brings super fun activities and provides resources to me to foster learning and proper development. Every so often, there are family activities in the evening that we enjoy! 
• Also, our district has offers a free half day preschool two days a week, which is the preschool that Jackson attends. He loves school and it's a great way to get him (and me!) prepared for kindergarten next year.
• Okay, so this is my favorite and I don't want you to be jealous. Maybe you have a place like this near you! I am SO thankful for our Success By Six center. It's like a library system and you can check things out for two weeks at a time. But there are more than just books-- there are lots of toys and activities too. Like, cool things that my kids love to play with I'm so glad that I don't have to buy! We've checked out activities that teach matching, sorting, lacing and all sorts of learning things. But we also check out toys that are just plain fun! Play is a child's work! 

This week, we have a giant outer space puzzle.

And I picked these boards this week and the kids have already spent hours playing with them. The board is magnetic and the middle gear connects to a rotating base. You connect your gears and then switch the on button and watch the gears all turn! Plus, I was able to check out two so there is no sharing involved! :)

We are so fortunate and I am so thankful to live in a community that values children and offers such great resources! What do you love about your community??

Tuesday Tidbits

The last week has been crazy ridiculous. First,  Derek had a three day drill weekend and then I headed up to my parents house with the kids on Sunday. We drove back home this morning just in time to drop Jackson off at preschool. Throw in the daylight savings change and whew! I'm ready for things to get back to normal.

• I missed Menu Monday yesterday. First, I actually didn't have a computer with me when I was up at my parents. Second, I threw away my menu. On accident of course. It was with my grocery list and once I completed my shopping, I tossed the list. Now, I have a lot of ingredients for meals that I don't even remember. This should be interesting. Tonight I am going to improvise and make omelettes and maybe pancakes.
• Yesterday was my big exam for my licensure as a counselor. To say I am glad to have it behind me is a total understatement. I was in grad school for five years and I spent three months studying specifically for this test-- and it was still the hardest test I've ever taken. The good news-- I PASSED!!!!!!
• After my test that was nearly four hours long, I treated myself to some Chick-fil-A. Now, I try to steer clear from using food as a reward these days, but it was lunch time, I was hungry-- it just worked out. Also, It was delicious. Here are a few thoughts: 
• I opted for the nuggets over the sandwich because bread is always full of crappy ingredients (I wanted to reserve my allocation of "bad-for-me" food for delicious chicken and not on mediocre white bread). 
• Second, I was full before I finished my meal and I was okay with throwing some away instead of stuffing myself. 
• I enjoyed a Coke for the first time in two months. And it was the real stuff, not the subpar Coke Zero I had switched too because I thought it was better for me. One sip and I remembered why I love it so much! But, I didn't get a larger cup and I enjoyed just the single serving.
• Also, yesterday, I met my very first blog friend. I'm pretty sure Derek thought it was the lamest thing ever, but bloggers are real people, folks! Katy who writes at Katy in a Corner is the funniest blogger I've ever read. Her videos are even better. She's a mother of two kids, a God-loving woman, and even more fabulous in real life. My high school friend, Rachel, invited me to a MOMs group last night to hear Katy speak and it so perfectly worked out that I was already at my parents. It was fun getting to meet Katy and see Rachel, but I was really uplifted by the Bible Study and messages! 

• Other big news: Derek's brother and his family have moved to town! Mary started a new job and they made the cross-state move this weekend. We're excited that the kids will get to grow up together! Plus, Brad and Mary like board games so Derek will get outvoted. Yay for Game Nights! (someone go find Derek and make sure he's not jumping off the top of a building).

(Gabe and Eli are eager picture takers. My kids on the other hand have given up on cooperating for yet another photo their mother insists on taking!)

• Tonight Derek and I are headed to another Love and Logic parenting course that we started a few weeks ago! The best part is that Derek and I are absorbing the same information at the same time and so for the first time, we're really on the same page of parenting style. It's been good! Also, Jackson paid me a quarter last week because that's what it takes to make Mommy's ears feel better after listening to whining.
  
• Oh, and while I studied on Sunday afternoon, I made sure to still watch the Chiefs game! It's a good season to be a Chiefs fan!!! Football is just so much fun when you're rooting for a winning team! :)

Happy Halloween from my Minions!

My little minions!

This picture cracks me up. So much personality, these two!

For those who don't know what a minion is, these are minions from a movie that we have watched no less than 20 billion times this year. 

source: focus animation

Today was a fun day. Jackson had a Halloween party at school and I was a 'room-mom'! I was there to help, but I was also eager to meet the girl that Jackson has sworn he is going to marry. It made total sense as soon as I saw her-- she was dressed as a Ninja Turtle!

I had collected the pieces from thrift stores over the past few weeks, but I told Derek the other day that I just wasn't interested in putting in effort to put the costumes together. Jackson went as Batman to school today and Belle just wanted to be a princess. Somehow I got the itch to assemble the costumes this afternoon and so that's what I did all afternoon. The costumes cost me around $10 plus some hot glue. We'll get more use from Belle's yellow hoodie (swimsuit cover) and her overall dress. Jackson's overalls were a tad small and I found his hoodie in the teen girl section. It worked for tonight, but we won't be wearing those again! The goggles are just cardboard from the packaging from Jackson's birthday toys.

We visited the fall festival at our church first and then we visited the nursing home where Derek grandma stays. The residents were lined up in the halls to hand out candy and they were thrilled to have kids visit. We got to peek in and say hi to Great Grandma, too. Jackson really wanted to go trick-or-treating so we visited some houses in a neighborhood close by as well as our neighbors close by! By the end, the kids were tired from walking and were whining that their candy was too heavy.

The kids indulged in candy for a bedtime snack. Halloween is a special time so we want them to enjoy their treats!

Candy is fun and we'll eat it a little bit, but I don't want it to stick around for weeks and weeks. We made a deal with Jackson. He plans to sell us his candy so he can add it to his collection to buy some toys he's been really wanting. 

What's your favorite candy? I've always been a fan of plain chocolate (like Hersey's milk chocolate) but I tried it tonight and it just wasn't as delicious anymore. I did enjoy a pack of Skittles (minus the yellow ones!). But as far as candy goes, dark chocolate is my new favorite!

Two months of clean eating PLUS a Giveaway!!

We're coming up to the two month mark of our new real, whole food diet. Things are getting easier. I have go to ideas for meals and snacks. I know what brands I like to buy when I'm at the store and I don't have to spend hours researching labels. I've improved a lot of my cooking skills, too!

Speaking of cooking-- I have to admit that there have been a handful of meals that have turned out not-so-great! Derek mentioned once that the ratio of ending up with a cooking fail was higher now that we're eating differently... and he's so right! It's amazing how when you cram things full of fat, sugar, and artificial ingredients that they taste good no matter what! It's a completely different skill to make tasty foods using natural ingredients! But, it can be done. On more than once occasion, Derek has said, "This is the best fill-in-the-blank I've ever had!". Mainly fish, but also about the burritos with homemade tortillas, lasagna, and even veggies.

Several people have asked about the side effects from our new eating plan other than just knowing that we're eating better foods. Here's a few from the top of my head.

• Derek and I have each lost over 10% of our body weight and have each gone down 2-3 pant sizes. I really never looked to see a change in the kids in this area because my priority has been to just create good eating habits early. I took Jackson into his well child check up today and his BMI (height and weight ratio) has gone down significantly compared to previous years to the point where his doctor was concerned if he was eating enough. I assured her that he eats plenty-- it's just minimally processed and healthy foods!
• Energy!!! Now the kids always have boundless energy, but Derek and I each relied on caffeine to get through the day. Breakfast, lunch, and especially to get us through the afternoon slump. We have no caffeine and no afternoon crash. 
• For a few years, I have had regular feet pain. I have been much more active in the last two months, yet my feet hardly ache. I can wear flip flops, boots, or even go barefoot sometimes whereas before it would have made my feet hurt for days.
• Derek and I both enjoy the feeling of being in control of our cravings. In fact, we rarely ever have them and if we do-- it's for different foods than before. My brain and body aren't being controlled by the artificial ingredients and sugar overload in processed foods. Have you read the research about Oreo's being more addictive than other drugs? I stop eating when I'm not hungry anymore and it's not a challenge. But for example, Jackson requested McDonalds for his birthday. We haven't been in over two months, so I took the kids. We shared some chicken nuggets, french fries, along with oranges that I packed. We ate decent portions and we were all full. But all afternoon I was hungry... I wanted chocolate. I wanted salty chips. Carbs, carbs, carbs! I just couldn't get full and I snacked all afternoon. I am SO glad that is not my normal anymore. 
• Freedom: we can eat anything we have in the house and not feel guilty, including: dark chocolate, cheese and crackers, nuts (we have them hidden so Jackson doesn't accidentally eat them!), popcorn with real butter!

Speaking of butter, cheese, and other dairy... we still eat it, we still love it! What's changed now with our new eating habits? Well, we buy full fat cheese, yogurt, sour cream, and cottage cheese. I'm not a fan of whole milk, so we still use 2%. We also opt for organic these days. Organic dairy comes from grass fed cows, which is what cows were designed to eat. Michael Pollan, cites that "you are what you eat eats, too!"  

A diet of grass means much healthier fats (more omega-3s and conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA; fewer omega-6s and saturated fat) in their meat, milk and eggs, as well as appreciably higher levels of vitamins and antioxidants.

Earlier this month, Rumiano Cheese Company sent me some coupons to try some of their cheeses! I eagerly visited Whole Foods and picked up a block of Pepper Jack and some Medium Cheddar slices. Notice that the cheddar cheese is white? It's because cheese is naturally white and that other cheeses dye it to make it orange.

I grated the block of cheese to make a delicious addition to some omelets. I've used the cheese slices to make grilled sandwiches and also as an easy snack to enjoy with crackers. Not only is it delicious, it's feels good to know that I'm eating the super nutritious foods made from animals that were also fed the most nutritious foods!

Rumiano Cheese Company has supplied me with five free coupons for cheese to giveaway to one lucky reader! These cheeses are available at Whole Foods Markets, so hopefully you have one close by!  Plus, the winner will be entered into The Big Cheese Sweepstakes-- you could win a full year's supply of cheese! 

Use the widget below to enter (just be patient to let it load!).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received free coupons to review the cheese for this post. All comments and opinions are my own.

Five!!!

Jackson turned five yesterday! It was a super fun day (aside from the whole cake thing). One of my favorite thing about birthdays is that it's time for the annual interview! 

Several of the answers are similar to last year, especially involving Transformers. I'm not sure why he has such a distaste for green, but this isn't the first time I've heard him say it. I love how he wants to be an "ambulance-r". Playing the Wii is clearly Jackson's love language. Last year he mentioned that swinging was his favorite outdoor activity. He has learned to pump on his own (woo hoo!) but in our back yard, he has upgraded from using the play set to do anything it is intended to do... and instead he climbs, hangs, and maneuverers all over the play set. It keeps him occupied for hours!

I knew what we needed to get Jackson for his birthday way back this summer. It was so hard to wait!!! We set up his bike in the family room so he could see it when he woke up. He was excited to say the least. He rode it around the house until it was nice enough to go outside!

Even breakfast couldn't get in the way of enjoying his new bike!!

Jackson celebrated with his friends this weekend by touring the fire station and having a little party. Yesterday, I cooked his favorite meal and then family came over for cake and ice cream. We did sing happy birthday, but he was just grumpy that he wasn't opening presents yet. 

We did eventually open presents and Jackson acquired some pretty awesome loot. He's been playing with these toys non stop. In other news, my fingers were practically bleeding from unpacking these things. Next year, we're going to have a you-bring-it-you-unpackage-it party! 

Jackson celebrated his birthday in class today. He made a crown and got to wear it all day! His teacher has invited parents to come read a book to the class for birthdays this year. Jackson requested the book Jackson's Blanket to read and I, of course, had to introduce his blanket to the class. Jackson was thrilled. Belle was pretty excited about being in "school" even if it was only for 15 minutes!

Jackson is stoked about being five. He's already inquired about a later bedtime and other perks he feels that are necessary now that he's grown up overnight. Tonight at bedtime he did request to get to sleep until he wakes up instead of someone waking him up. Sounds good to me, buddy!!

We love you Jackson! He'd respond... "Actually it's Jack." We love you, son! :) We love having you in our family. You're such a big helper, you make us laugh. Best of all, you give the BEST snuggles! :)